Food for hungry pours in from all over US after appeal by Girl Scouts

Wednesday

Apr 24, 2013 at 7:15 AM

By JOEY MILLWOOD Times-News Staff Writer

ETOWAH — A group of parents gathered Thursday around an open garage that serves as the Fishes and Loaves Pantry at Etowah United Methodist Church. Inside was a sea of boxes full of food collected by 24 Girl Scouts.

Members of Girl Scout Troop 3060 in Etowah decided to organize a food drive to earn their “Lifesaver” badge. They did that and much more — the garage wasn’t just filled with donations gathered locally, but also boxes from all over the country.

The goal of the drive was to raise enough food to feed local children in need through the “Backpack Lunch” program at Manna Food Bank every weekend for one month.

The troop sent handwritten letters to presidents of 35 companies around the country, along with a picture of the troop. They did it with no expectations, but the response was overwhelming.

A call came in to Cat Graham, one of the parents, at 9 p.m. one night. It was a senior vice president at Dole.

“They were the first company that responded, and it snowballed from there,” Graham said. Dole’s headquarters are in Westlake Village, Calif.

Of the 35 companies the troop sent letters to, 20 responded.

In some cases, companies sent crates of food, and in other cases, they sent coupons.

Dole sent 35 cases of fruit. National Fruit sent 75 cases. In the end, more than 180 cases of food came in from companies around the country.

On Thursday, the girls could only smile as they stared at the stacks of boxes.

“I feel really proud that we did this and that we got all this food for kids that can’t eat on the weekend,” said troop member Kylie Gilbert, 10.

They were gracious for the support from not only the local community, but also from the national donors.

“I just want to thank all the people that gave us all the money and food for these kids,” said troop member Ashlee Brown, 9.

As excited as the girls were, their parents and troop leaders were even more proud of what the troop accomplished.